Traveling Smart

Hey Folks,
just wanted to let you know that we are aware of the risks of going to India right now. Our friends here in the states and over in India still say it is OK to go, and we are trusting them to tell us if it is not a good idea. We take their word and opinions very seriously, and we trust them with our safety. They need only say the word, and we will halt our plans to travel. We are also keeping on top of what our government is suggesting during this time:

"U.S. citizens traveling to or already in India to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness, especially during the end-of-year holidays until India’s Republic Day, January 26. This Travel Alert expires on January 31, 2009."-www.travel.state.gov

Note that we will not be in India until after the travel alert expires.

We will also be registering with our embassy, to get regular updates on whether or not our travels are safe, before we depart, and while we are in India.

Many of you, our dear friends and family, have asked directly about these concerns, and I can only imagine how many of you think it, and don't ask. So, here is the answer to those questions. We are not allowing our emotions to guide us in this area, we are trying to remain smart and practical. We love that you all care so very much for us, and know that we are doing our very best to look out for our own safety.

Much love and peace to you all,
Lauren & Will

Home for the Holidays

Will and I are spending as much time with our families as we can this holiday, as we will not be seeing them for almost 6 months. We've designated a larger chunk to Will's side, as we don't get to see them as often as my parents. Spending time with the in-laws is always very relaxing for me. Their home is consistently cozy and peaceful, full of boardgames, and accompanied by large sit down meals made by my fabulous mother-in-law . It's also super fun to watch Will with his brothers. Their comrodery and playful nature is a joy to watch in action, as they cheer each other on in rousing competitions of video games and living room wrestling matches. Grown men, imagining themselves back to their boyhood play times....it's a joy to watch Will relax with his family, and I'm honored to be a new part of this scene.

As for my lovely sibling, she is sadly snowed in, in Seattle. I am missing her very much. Often we need to share her with her own in-laws, but we plan for that every year. This years absence was unplanned, and a significant loss is felt by my family, and by her husbands as well, I'm sure. Thankfully, I did get to see my dear sissy this past October, and I'm glad we spent as much time together as we could.

At this point, Will and I are just 4 weeks away from heading over to India. Our Visa's have been filled out, and we are only in need of our pictures to send them out. This will be happening on Monday. This past week we also got in touch with an agent to help us plan our open ended tickets, and hope to hear more news of that this week.

Along with these things, we have raised just about all of our money- THANKS TO ALL WHO PITCHED IN! We also found a lovely gal named Jessica to rent out bedroom while Will and I are gone, helping us cut back on our costs in the states.

Things are falling into place, really easily I must say. I think God is being especially gracious in this area to me. Although I have some anxieties about my new experiences over in India, God seems to be making things very easy for us here at home, which makes an all around feeling of peace possible.

Thanks to all for your regular prayers and support. A special thanks to Joshua and David who regularly comment on my blog. I look forward to your comments every time I post.

I've been encouraging Will to post the next blog, and he swears he has 3 half written. So, keep an eye out for his thoughts coming soon.
Peace to all in this coming new year.
Lauren

A Beach Vacation

So, in late March, Will and I get a week long vacation. We've recently made some friends from Goa India, through our good friend Steve's Dad Ken, who spends a lot of time in India. Goa is a beach resort town, and has some of the best beaches in India. Through our new friends there, Will and I, along with our friends Kristin and Derek who will be visiting us at the time, are going to get the sweet hook up with a room for $3-$8 a day. This is a little bit crazy to me, as I've often spent $3 on a coffee, and to get such a luxury as a whole room for that much, well it makes you think a bit. I'm also just constantly in awe of all of the amazing quick connections we're making over in India. I love that it feels like we are already forming a community, before we even get there. Plus, it makes me feel safer, knowing people are looking out for us.

I've posted a link to the left, so you can check out pictures of the beach we'll be staying at (Benaulim).

Peace,
Lauren

Hey Everybody,
Will and I will be staying in the guest house at Latikaroy, and Jo sent us a picture of our bedroom. Look mom, it's clean!
Love to all,
Lauren

Appying for our Visa

So, I sold 120 lanterns at Art Shop, and Will sold some of his prints, along with a bunch of these sweet new calendars he designed. Thanks to all who came out and supported us. This $ will be going towards our trip.

Now, it's time to apply for our Visa's! This is our first tangible step to making our trip a reality. I'm both excited and nervous. I've never had a visa before, it feels so.....long term, which of course it is. 6 months is a lot for me. The only times I've ever been out of the country were when I did this community service trip in Scotland where I was a street mime for 3 weeks, yup that's right, and when Will and I went to Costa Rica for a week on our honeymoon. I've been to Canada twice, and the Bahama's once, but they weren't hard trips. My whole life I've been in Philadelphia. I stayed in Philly for college and grad. school. Heck, I lived with my parents, in the same house, until I was 21, and when they moved to a new house I went with them and lived there until I was 23. I'm going to India for 6 months, 6 MONTHS! I'm going to learn a new language, a new way of living, a new way of traveling, meet new friends, eat new food, see new environments, teach new kids, it's all new, all at once and I'm a little freaked out. Venting done, I'm going to switch all of those things into the "positive and at peace lense", and say that all of those things are also amazing. Choosing to be at peace, is a daily prayer for me, and I hope that you all will join me in that.

Love to all,

Lauren

Buy Local!

Art Shop, a 60 artisans show/sale is happening next weekend (Dec. 5th & 6th) in Kensington Philadelphia.There, Will and I will be selling our art work, with all of our proceeds going to our trip. Friday night there will be free coffee and dessert while you shop. Don't miss it!

Friends Indeed

Our friends Kristin and Derek have decided to join us where we'll be working, in Dehradun, for 2 weeks in march. We are totally pumped!

Dehra Dun is the capital of the north Indian state of Uttarakhand, located about 250 kilometres north east of Delhi.

Travel to Dehra Dun takes about six hours on a comfortable day train, or an overnight train journey.

(picture from www.camvol.org)

By the way, if you haven't checked out our links on the side yet, please do so. On Latikaroy's website is also "Jo's Blog". She's the woman who started the school I'll be working at, and always has some great insights about the culture of her community, and around the world.

This could take some getting used to......

The squat-style toilet in an Indian train is basically a stainless steel basin installed on the floor,

with footrests on either side, and a hole shooting right out to the tracks.

Carry your own toilet paper! Using the Indian toilets on a running train requires some practice.

Be sure to keep all loose objects in pockets, so they won't fall through the hole.

You use the washbasin located outside the toilet for brushing your teeth and washing your face.

Fear

I've had a hard time wanting to write on the blog lately. I've actually been processing some strong emotions, associated with our trip, and or preparations for the trip. I didn't write, out of fear that my emotions would skew reality, and have waited to talk about things.

I'm afraid of going to India. I'm not afraid of the work Will and I are going to do, or the people we are going to spend time with. I'm afraid of the unknown, especially about the extreme poverty over in India. I haven't spent much time outside of the states, other than our honeymoon in Costa Rica, where I was overwhelmed by the poverty I saw there. India is MUCH bigger than Costa Rica, and so I assume, and have read, that the poverty there is immense. Here in Philadelphia, I know how to talk to the folks in need that I meet on the streets, and I even feel comfortable responding to their request of money or food. However, here in the states I usually only encounter one or two homeless people at a time, where in India I will be bombarded with impoverished people, and I'm afraid that I wont know how to respond properly. How do I respond? How do I treat this community with dignity, and create clear boundaries based on my own limitations of being able to help?

While carrying this fear over the past few months, Will and I also started our 15 week training course. I had hoped that the training course would take away some of my fears. Sadly, so far I have only learned the history of service, and the statistics about the great needs we have in third world countries around the world. Each week I came home more and more frustrated, feeling unsatisfied with the information I was getting. I kept saying to myself "I know we are all called to do service, in our immediate communities, and in those around the world. Stop telling me that I need to help, tell me how to help!". On top of this frustration, I was also annoyed that we had yet to discuss women and the rich history of the work that they have done around the world. We have mostly heard about white men, and their work, with a quick reference to women sometime around our 6Th week of classes. Finally this past week a woman came to speak in our class. I, along with the other half of my classmates who are women, were THRILLED to finally have a woman speaking to us in class. Our speaker shared how she felt called to do service in India, how she raised a family there, and how she dealt specifically with cultural differences surrounding women here in the states and those in Indonesia.

This past week, God heard my cry of fear and frustration surrounding all of this, as did my sweet husband Will. It is now obvious that I won't get all of my needs met in our training course, but we do have many resources in our community in Philadelphia who have been to India, or have connections there. Our good friends Steve and Julie, along with their many family members who have served abroad, are taking the time to answer my questions over email, and on the phone. Wonderfully, along with the female speaker yesterday, God directed Will and I to a gentleman in our training class who had spent time in Dehradun, and who's brother lives in Delhi, but is currently just up in NYC. It's such an amazing feeling to know that God truly sees us at our whits end, and bring a flood of love and peace to calm our hearts.

Please continue to pray for me in this area, as I grow and learn to ask for help, rather than wallow in my own fears.

A quick praise, before I sign off. As of today Will and I have received almost $2500 in financial support for our work in India. This is HUGE for us, as it means we are close to being able to purchase our plane tickets, our biggest expense. We are hand writing notes to thank those who have shared so generously, but just wanted to say thanks to all who are helping us make this trip possible.

Peace to you all,

Lauren

Awesomeness!

So today Will and I met with the organization we're going to work with, here in Philly. Good folks, VERY helpful, and bought us Vietnamese food for lunch, so you can't beat that. While talking with our new friends, Will and I found out to bits of AWESOMENESS. One is that through the organization we can now offer tax deductions to our supporters. Our blog is now set up for that to happen, and you can still do it all online.....pretty sweet. The other thing is that for the training class that Will and I are taking, although we still need to attend and are required to do the readings, we DO NOT need to take any quizzes or do an written work, thank goodness! As many of you know, test taking is not something I enjoy doing, and so I am very relieved that I can now sit back and enjoy the new information that I'm receiving, without stressing about completing quizzes on time.

In other news, as I continue to read up on Deafness in India, I came across this tidbit of information:

"There are 3 million Deaf children in India, and 25,000 children are born Deaf every year. Only one in ten children who are deaf, go to school, and 90% of them live in urban areas. 50% of children who are Deaf drop out of school by the age of 13". (www.deafchildworldwide.info)

I've been talking with my students at Penn. School for the Deaf about the differences between our culture here in the states, and the culture in India, and how much more our kids are offered here. We're starting to talk about what kind of exchange we'd like to have with our new friends in the Deaf community of India, with exciting discussions about the different written and signed language. It's been exciting to have my students think about this newness with me.

That's it for today. Peace to you all,
Lauren

English Phrases & Hindi Translation:

We're learning a little Hindi, and thought you might get a kick out of learning a little with us.

Hello - Namaste/Namaskar
What is your name? - Apka Namm Kya hai?
My name is___- Mera naam___
How are you? - Kaise hain?
I am fine - Main theek hoon
Goodbye - Main chalta hoon (chalti for female)

A time to go

Will and I are plugging along in our training class, and are currently in or 4th week of preparation. The class is interesting, and growing. We are currently learning about the history of cross cultural service, and how it can be applicable today. Will and I are slowly making new friends, and meeting others who feel called to serve around the world.

This week, we also found out that our first day of orientation training, in Pune India, will be February 1st. I'm a planner, so it's exciting for me to know exactly when we're going.

Now that we know when our first date is in India, Will and I will be looking to buy plane tickets. Financially this is a challenge for us, and we are still in need of donations to meet our goal to do service in India. We are currently at $700, and are trying to get to $7,000 (plane tickets, shots, visa's, living expenses for 5 months, etc.). We are anxious to get some more support to meet our goal, especially before we buy our plane tickets, which is our biggest expense. Please help if you are able, by sending a check (big or small;-), or pushing the DONATION button in the left corner of the screen, to use your credit or debit card.

As for some news from India, please be praying for our Hindi & Christian bothers and sisters, as there have been riots between the two communities.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/09/16/india.riots/

Know that we will not be going to this area, but are concerned about the tension between the two groups.

Please pray for peace, grace and understanding between these 2 communities.

Much love to you all,

Lauren

Training

So, Will and I started a training course this past Sunday, here in the states, to prep us for our trip abroad. The course is 15 weeks long, is going to give us a little history of service overseas, and how to approach new cultures and communities with grace and dignity. I was a little frustrated about being required to take this course. Actually, I was really frustrated. Growing up in Philly, and living in such a diverse community, I was prideful enough to think I didn't need to know any more than what I already live. However, last night a group of friends of mine gathered and we talked about wisdom. A friend brought a quote from a great book that said:

"Wisdom is first of all pure, then peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow peace, raise a harvest of righteousness."

This idea was very humbling, as I realized that I did not have ANY of these feelings about my training course, and acquiring new wisdom in this area. Something to be praying about for sure....

This week, Will and I also learned that we'll be doing some orientation in Pune (W. India) before we had up and over to Dehradun. I've added a link on the left so you all can check things out.

Lastly, we're still at $0 as far as fundraising goes, with $7000 to go. Continue to pray that financial support will come in, and of course contribute if you are able. We can only do it with help from our friends and family.

Much peace and love to you all,
Lauren

My very first blog.

I have to admit, I wasn't into the whole blogging thing at first, as it feels a bit weird to share things about my life to the public. However, it seemed the most convenient way to keep our friends and family up to date on our preparations and travels to India in the Spring of 2009. I'll probably be the one making the most updates, but you'll hear from Will once in a while too. So, here we go.....

For the beginning of our trip, February to May, I am scheduled to do work at Latikaroy, teaching art to children with special needs, and Will will be working with the folks at the People's Science Institute, an Indian non-profit research and development organization. We are VERY excited about our match with these two groups, as they seem to fit us so perfectly. We have left the last 2 months of our journey flexible, either to stay in India a bit longer, or head over to Thailand to work with our friend Teresa.

This month Will and I are doing our doctor's visits, applying for our visa's, starting a 15 week training course, and are beginning to gather books, magazines and other literature to learn more about the community and culture of the people we are going to serve.

We have also begun to enlist friends and family for prayer and financial support. In lieu of using resources to mail paper support letters, we're posting our needs here. We would love any help you can offer us.

Prayer Requests:
-spiritual growth and preparation
-getting shots (Lauren faints at the sight of needles)
-getting through the 15 week training course, it's intense!
-raising the money we need

Financial Support:
We're looking to raise about $7,000 for our trip. This includes plane tickets (our biggest expense), visa's, and living expenses for our time in India. If you are able to help us out in this area, you can use your credit or debit card online through our "Donate" button, or if you'd feel more comfortable sending a check, just bounce us an email (lstichter@gmail.com) and we'll be glad to figure that out with you.

Much love to you all,
Lauren & Will Stichter